{"id":10368,"date":"2017-11-04T17:26:22","date_gmt":"2017-11-04T17:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=10368"},"modified":"2017-11-04T17:26:22","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T17:26:22","slug":"in-americas-sandwiches-the-story-of-a-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/in-americas-sandwiches-the-story-of-a-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"In America’s sandwiches, the story of a nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Freedman<\/a>, Yale University<\/a><\/em>; Andrew P. Haley<\/a>, The University of Southern Mississippi<\/a><\/em>; Imogene L. Lim<\/a>, Vancouver Island University<\/a><\/em>; Ken Albala<\/a>, University of the Pacific<\/a><\/em>, and Megan Elias<\/a>, Boston University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone has a favorite sandwich, often prepared to an exacting degree of specification: Turkey or ham? Grilled or toasted? Mayo or mustard? White or whole wheat?<\/em> <\/p>\n

We reached out to five food historians and asked them to tell the story of a sandwich of their choosing. The responses included staples like peanut butter and jelly, as well as regional fare like New England\u2019s chow mein sandwich.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Together, they show how the sandwiches we eat (or used to eat) do more than fill us up during our lunch breaks. In their stories are themes of immigration and globalization, of class and gender, and of resourcefulness and creativity.<\/em><\/p>\n

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A taste of home for working women<\/h2>\n

Megan Elias, Boston University<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tuna salad sandwich originated from an impulse to conserve, only to become a symbol of excess. <\/p>\n

In the 19th century \u2013 before the era of supermarkets and cheap groceries \u2013 most Americans avoided wasting food. Scraps of chicken, ham or fish from supper would be mixed with mayonnaise and served on lettuce for lunch. Leftovers of celery, pickles and olives \u2013 served as supper \u201crelishes\u201d \u2013 would also be folded into the mix. <\/p>\n

The versions of these salads that incorporated fish tended to use salmon, white fish or trout. Most Americans didn\u2019t cook (or even know of) tuna. <\/p>\n

Around the end of the 19th century, middle-class women began to spend more time in public<\/a>, patronizing department stores, lectures and museums. Since social conventions kept these women out of the saloons where men ate, lunch restaurants opened up to cater to this new clientele. They offered women exactly the kind of foods they had served each other at home: salads. While salads made at home often were composed of leftovers, those at lunch restaurants were made from scratch. Fish and shellfish salads were typical fare. <\/p>\n

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\n A 1949 ad in Ladies\u2019 Home Journal announces a \u2018Revolution in Tuna.\u2019<\/span>
\n Internet Archive Book Images<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When further social and economic changes brought women into the public as office and department store workers<\/a>, they found fish salads waiting for them at the affordable lunch counters patronized by busy urban workers. Unlike the ladies\u2019 lunch, the office lunch hour had time limits. So lunch counters came up with the idea of offering the salads between two pieces of bread, which sped up table turnover and encouraged patrons to get lunch to go. <\/p>\n

When canned tuna was introduced in the early 20th century<\/a>, lunch counters and home cooks could skip the step of cooking a fish and go straight to the salad. But there was downside: The immense popularity of canned tuna led to the growth of a global industry that has severely depleted stocks and led to the unintended slaughter of millions of dolphins<\/a>. A clever way to use dinner scraps has become a global crisis of conscience and capitalism. <\/p>\n

I like mine on toasted rye.<\/p>\n

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East meets West in Fall River, Massachusetts<\/h2>\n

Imogene Lim, Vancouver Island University<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGonna get a big dish of beef chow mein,\u201d Warren Zevon sings<\/a> in his 1978 hit \u201cWerewolves of London,\u201d a nod to the popular Chinese stir-fried noodle dish. <\/p>\n

During that same decade, Alika and the Happy Samoans<\/a>, the house band for a Chinese restaurant in Fall River, Massachusetts, also paid tribute to chow mein with a song titled \u201cChow Mein Sandwich<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chow mein in a sandwich? Is that a real thing?<\/p>\n

I was first introduced to the chow mein sandwich while completing my doctorate at Brown University. Even as the child of a Chinatown restaurateur from Vancouver, I viewed the sandwich as something of a mystery. It led to a post-doctoral fellowship and a paper<\/a> about Chinese entrepreneurship in New England. <\/p>\n

The chow mein sandwich is the quintessential \u201cEast meets West\u201d food, and it\u2019s largely associated with New England\u2019s Chinese restaurants \u2013 specifically, those of Fall River, a city crowded with textile mills near the Rhode Island border. <\/p>\n

The sandwich became popular in the 1920s because it was filling and cheap: Workers munched on them in factory canteens, while their kids ate them for lunch in the parish schools, especially on meatless Fridays. It would go on to be available at some \u201cfive and dime\u201d lunch counters, like Kresge\u2019s<\/a> and Woolworth<\/a> \u2013 and even at Nathan\u2019s<\/a> in Coney Island.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exactly what it sounds like: a sandwich filled with chow mein (deep-fried, flat noodles, topped with a ladle of brown gravy, onions, celery and bean sprouts). If you want to make your own authentic sandwich at home, I recommend using Hoo Mee Chow Mein Mix<\/a>, which is still made in Fall River. It can be served in a bun (\u00e0 la sloppy joe) or between sliced white bread, much like a hot turkey sandwich with gravy. The classic meal includes the sandwich, french fries and orange soda.<\/p>\n

For those who grew up in the Fall River area, the chow mein sandwich is a reminder of home. Just ask famous chef (and Fall River native) Emeril Legass\u00e9, who came up with his own \u201cFall River chow mein\u201d recipe<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And at one time, Fall River expats living in Los Angeles would hold a \u201cFall River Day.\u201d <\/p>\n

On the menu? Chow mein sandwiches, of course. <\/p>\n

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A snack for the elites<\/h2>\n

Paul Freedman, Yale University<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unlike many American food trends of the 1890s, such as the Waldorf salad and chafing dishes<\/a>, the club sandwich has endured, immune to obsolescence. <\/p>\n

The sandwich originated in the country\u2019s stuffy gentlemen\u2019s clubs, which are known \u2013 to this day \u2013 for a conservatism that includes loyalty to outdated cuisine. (The Wilmington Club in Delaware continues to serve terrapin<\/a>, while the Philadelphia Club\u2019s specialties include veal and ham pie.) So the club sandwich\u2019s spread to the rest of the population, along with its lasting popularity, is a testament to its inventiveness and appeal. <\/p>\n

A two-layer affair, the club sandwich calls for three pieces of toasted bread spread with mayonnaise and filled with chicken or turkey, bacon, lettuce and tomato. Usually the sandwich is cut into two triangles and held together with a toothpick stuck in each half. <\/p>\n

Some believe it should be eaten with a fork and knife, and its blend of elegance and blandness make the club sandwich a permanent feature of country and city club cuisine.<\/p>\n

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\n The club sandwich: A perfect blend of elegance and blandness.<\/span>
\n Alena Haurylik<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As far back as 1889<\/a>, there are references to a Union Club sandwich of turkey or ham on toast. The Saratoga Club-House offered a club sandwich on its menu beginning in 1894. <\/p>\n

Interestingly, until the 1920s, sandwiches were identified with ladies\u2019 lunch places that served \u201cdainty\u201d food. The first club sandwich recipe comes from an 1899 book of \u201csalads, sandwiches and chafing-dish dainties,\u201d and its most famous proponent<\/a> was Wallis Simpson, the American woman whom Edward VIII abdicated the throne of Great Britain to marry<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, an 1889 article from the New York Sun entitled \u201cAn Appetizing Sandwich: A Dainty Treat That Has Made a New York Chef Popular\u201d describes the Union Club sandwich as appropriate for a post-theater supper, or something light to be eaten before a nightcap. This was one type of sandwich that men could indulge in, the article seemed to be saying \u2013 as long as it wasn\u2019t eaten for lunch.<\/p>\n

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\n New York City\u2019s Union Club served an early version of the club sandwich that was a hit.<\/span>
\n Gryffindor<\/a>, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u2018The combination is delicious and original\u2019<\/h2>\n

Ken Albala, University of the Pacific<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the peanut butter and jelly sandwich eventually became a staple of elementary school cafeterias, it actually has upper-crust origins.<\/p>\n

In the late-19th century, at elegant ladies\u2019 luncheons, a popular snack was small, crustless tea sandwiches with butter and cucumber, cold cuts or cheese. Around this time, health food advocates like John Harvey Kellogg started promoting<\/a> peanut products as a replacement for animal-based foods (butter included). So for a vegetarian option at these luncheons, peanut butter simply replaced regular butter.<\/p>\n

One of the earliest known recipes that suggested including jelly with peanut butter appeared in a 1901 issue of the Boston Cooking School Magazine. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor variety,\u201d author Julia Davis Chandler wrote<\/a>, \u201csome day try making little sandwiches, or bread fingers, of three very thin layers of bread and two of filling, one of peanut paste, whatever brand you prefer, and currant or crabapple jelly for the other. The combination is delicious, and so far as I know original.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sandwich moved from garden parties to lunchboxes in the 1920s, when peanut butter started to be mass produced with hydrogenated vegetable oil and sugar. Marketers of the Skippy brand targeted children as a potential new audience, and thus the association with school lunches was forged. <\/p>\n

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